


Why must you insist on us doing dangerous things?

by aelinnight



Series: These are a few of my dangerous things [1]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:55:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelinnight/pseuds/aelinnight
Summary: Join as the characters read the books! Yay! I couldn't find any,so am try as hard as possible to make one! If you know any fanfiction's where they read the books tell me!😊
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Rowan Whitethorn
Series: These are a few of my dangerous things [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691089
Comments: 15
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

This well continue soon as I can get my hands on the books! XD

**PLEASE READ!**

**UNFORTUNATELY I CAN'T CONTINUE THIS FANFICTION FOR A WHILE. AM MOVING (MAYBE) AND SO THAT MEANS NO WI-FI, AND NO UPDATES.**

**BUT! LUCKY ME I STILL GO TO SCHOOL. I'LL TRY TO GET THE UPDATES DONE THERE BUT UNTIL THEN PLEASE BE PATIENT.**

**THANK YOU!**

**-AELINNIGHT**

**1/29/20**

**Hey Fae warriors,**

**So school back in the run, so that means UPDATES! YES! I thank each and everyone of you for waiting. I hope this time of waiting didnt put a dent in wanting to read this fanfic! Til next update!**

**-Aelinnight**

**3/13/20**

**Hey Fae warriors,**

**Sorry for being asbant lately. Am going to be posting next chapter soon. Again really sorry about that. Hope to see some readers.**

**-Aelinnight**

**3/13/20**

**Hey Fae Warriors,**

**Bad News, my school is closing for at least a week maybe longer. So the possbilty of getting the next chapter out is slim. I mean, really slim, slim as the gods thinking they could get Aelin. So, yeah. I hope this will soon end so I can get the next chapter out.**

**Wishing Everyone the best of luck**

**-Aelinnight**

**Hello!**

**So... The chapter should be out soon! Yay! This one taking a little longer due to trying to get some chararter depth in there. Thank you for staying with me through these weeks of nothing from. That's all. Stay Safe!**

**\- Aelinnight**


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:I don't own any ToG characters of the books, just the plot of the fanfiction!
> 
> Also first time doing ToG fanficion, so characters are gonna be a OOC, somewhat hope not a lot.

Aelin had found a like of books in the library of the castle that she now lives in. They were covered in dust. She swiped at the dust on the top book, the cover was grayish blue with a girl carrying two swords, one in each hand. The girl hair was a familiar white blond.She seem to be glowing a semi bright blue light and the title was..

Aelin leaned forward, narrowing her she trying to read the title, it had faded over time. She could make out some of the letters, T, O, A, and G. Setting it aside she picked up the next one, the cover had the same girl on it, only looked a little older. The girl drawing back bow aiming for something..

Looking at the rest she could see the same girl on all of them, one of them has a sliver coin on its cover. Scooping up the books, she carried them to her and Rowan's bedroom. She set them on the bed. She walked over to the window, overlooking the garden, if that what you want to call it. It was dead, from years of neglect. Still the sky was a nice gray blue, clouds drifting across.

She turned, heading back over to the books. She picked up the first one and turned it over looking at the back, attempting to make out the words in the back. What she could make out was...

Eighteen year old gets offered a chance at freedom, she takes it and....

The rest of the words were faded out.

"Why not read them?" Tilting her head she considered it. She wasn't a loud to do anything yet, Rowan wanted her resting. He was worried she overwork herself after their war with Royal pain in the ass , Maeve. Rolling her eyes she settled down on the bed and opened the book.

**Throne of Glass**

"Ok.. Nothing weird about that. " Must be a conscience. She flipped the page and starting reading.

**After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier...**

She dropped the book. Scrambling to get herself far away from the book. That book, that book.. She had read a little more of the sentence. Had her past name in it and said a year of slavery. In Endovier.

SHe grabbed the book and ran out of her room. Running down the hall and making sharp turns, heading towards what was the great hall where she and her court sat and had meetings and ate. She pushed open the heavy doors.

"...well we could always rebuild the walls with the stone that came down from that battle last week." Aedion looked up , as did Rowan and Feryes. "Aelin, what are yo-" I cut off Aedion question. " This book knows about my past. " I

They looked at me.

Walking up to Rowan I held out the book to him. He slowly took it. Looking from my face to the book and again. Raising his eyebrow _, You ok Fireheart?_

_Of course Buzzard, just read the first page._

He opened the book and read some Of the first page. 

"Where did you find this Aelin?"

" In the library. " I responded.

_Should we read this out loud?_

_Sure, I mean it's not like it might hold any of my secrets._

"Feryes, gather up the court? We have some books to read ." 

" Umm..ok. " He went through the doors I came through and went to gather the court.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short I know, but once we start reading the chapters they will get longer.


	3. Jump to the pass( noo!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!

After we were all gathered in the hall, they all turned to me and demanded why they were here and from Fenyres are there snacks? Shaking my head, I spoke up. " I found a stack of books in the library. "

Everyone looked at me, well beside Rowan, like I was insane. Chaol who was in the wheelchair, resting his legs, said. "You called us here for a stack of books you found in the library?" I glared at him. " If you let me finish Chaol, I was going to say that these books seem to have the story of a young girl. " Aedion, my cousin twin, snorted.

"A girl, who was put into a salt mine, for being an assassin and brought out of those kinds only to be put in a computation to be the King royal garud dog. " As I went on everyone eyes got bigger then narrowed. Creepy.

"Aelin?" Aedion said. " You ok? I mean we all break down but... Claiming what your saying makes you sound you know.. " He triwled his finger in a circle around his temple.

Glarling, I picked up the top book and read the first paragraph.

**After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment—though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Celaena to and from the mines. That was expected by Adarlan’s most notorious assassin. What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side—as there was now.**

I stopped, looking up from the book. There mouths were hanging open in shock. " There is no way that what your reading is... It's a con-" I cut off Luca.

**He gripped her arm as he led her through the shining building in which most of Endovier’s officials and overseers were housed. They strode down corridors, up flights of stairs, and around and around until she hadn’t the slightest chance of finding her way out again.**

**At least, that was her escort’s intention, because she hadn’t failed to notice when they went up and down the same staircase within a matter of minutes. Nor had she missed when they zigzagged between levels, even though the building was a standard grid of hallways and stairwells. As if she’d lose her bearings that easily. She might have been insulted if he wasn’t trying so hard.**

I stopped when I heard Chaol mutter a curse under his breath. I shot him a smug look. "Should've have know you wouldn't be confused by that." I just grinned.

" What that how you and Chaol met? " asked Luca

I nodded my head. "Yes, very annoying." Chaol rolled his eyes.

**They entered a particularly long hallway, silent save for their footsteps. Though the man grasping her arm was tall and fit, she could see nothing of the features concealed beneath his hood. Another tactic meant to confuse and intimidate her. The black clothes were probably a part of it, too. His head shifted in her direction, and Celaena flashed him a grin. He looked forward again, his iron grip tightening.**

**It was flattering, she supposed, even if she didn’t know what was happening, or why he’d been waiting for her outside the mine shaft. After a day of cleaving rock salt from the innards of the mountain, finding him standing there with six guards hadn’t improved her mood.**

"You sure? I mean that seems the kind of thing you like?" Lysandra said. I raised an eyebrow at her. " I was hitting salt all day and the day after, so when I come out to see more guards then normal I was put out. " I had planned to mess around with the overseerers that day. I pouted.

_Why you pounting? Planning g to do something that day?_

Rowan had questioned, after seeing the pout on my face.

_What? I wasn't allowed to have as much fun as I could in that horrible place._

Rowan just shook his head. "Am sure you have them the most frustrating time of their lifes. " I smirked.

**But her ears had pricked when he’d introduced himself to her overseer as Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and suddenly, the sky loomed, the mountains pushed from behind, and even the earth swelled toward her knees. She hadn’t tasted fear in a while—hadn’t let herself taste fear. When she awoke every morning, she repeated the same words: I will not be afraid. For a year, those words had meant the difference between breaking and bending; they had kept her from shattering in the darkness of the mines. Not that she’d let the captain know any of that.**

Everyone was quiet, Not really breathing after hearing that. Hmm. They really did care.

**Celaena examined the gloved hand holding her arm. The dark leather almost matched the dirt on her skin.**

**She adjusted her torn and filthy tunic with her free hand and held in her sigh. Entering the mines before sunrise and departing after dusk, she rarely glimpsed the sun. She was frightfully pale beneath the dirt. It was true that she had been attractive once, beautiful even, but— well, it didn’t matter now, did it?**

"Vain till the bitter end? " Rowan said. I have a small chuckle. "Don't I know it." Everyone looked at us, with varying questions in their eyes.

**They turned down another hallway, and she studied the stranger’s finely crafted sword. Its shimmering pommel was shaped like an eagle midflight. Noticing her stare, his gloved hand descended to rest upon its golden head. Another smile tugged at the corners of her lips.**

**“You’re a long way from Rifthold, Captain,” she said, clearing her throat. “Did you come with the army I heard thumping around earlier?” She peered into the darkness beneath his hood but saw nothing. Still, she felt his eyes upon her face, judging, weighing, testing. She stared right back. The Captain of the Royal Guard would be an interesting opponent. Maybe even worthy of some effort on her part.**

Chaol snorted. "You could bearly pick up a knife." I glared letting it go for now. I'll get him back later. I heard the rest trying to smother their laughter.

**Finally, the man raised his sword hand, and the folds of his cloak fell to conceal the blade. As his cloak shifted, she spied the gold wyvern embroidered on his tunic. The royal seal.**

**“What do you care for the armies of Adarlan?” he replied. How lovely it was to hear a voice like her own—cool and articulate—even if he was a nasty brute!**

**“Nothing,” she said, shrugging. He let out a low growl of annoyance.**

"Brute? " He said. I smirked hearing others laughing. "No, that's Rowan." Everyone laughed harder.

**Oh, it’d be nice to see his blood spill across the marble. She’d lost her temper once before—once, when her first overseer chose the wrong day to push her too hard. She still remembered the feeling of embedding the pickax into his gut, and the stickiness of his blood on her hands and face. She could disarm two of these guards in a heartbeat. Would the captain fare better than her late overseer? Contemplating the potential outcomes, she grinned at him again.**

I looked away when almost everyone looked at me with questioning eyes.

 **“Don’t you look at me like that,”** Laughing insured. **he warned, and his hand drifted back toward his sword. Celaena hid her smirk this time. They passed a series of wooden doors that she’d seen a few minutes ago. If she wanted to escape, she simply had to turn left at the next hallway and take the stairs down three flights. The only thing all the intended disorientation had accomplished was to familiarize her with the building. Idiots.**

"Hey, am not an idiot. " Chaol protested. "You sure? You just helped an assassin escape, without even trying." We turned out head to see Yerene ( Did I spell her name right? Let me know.) walking into the room. Her stomach, produced quite a bit. She has been with child for a while. Wouldn't be surprised if she delivered soon.

Chaol had a huge smile on his face, opening his arms so she could settle on his lap. I continued to read as Chaol whispered to her what we were doing.

**“Where are we going again?” she said sweetly, brushing a strand of her matted hair from her face. When he didn’t reply, she clenched her jaw.**

**The halls echoed too loudly for her to attack him without alerting the whole building. She hadn’t seen where he’d put the key to her irons, and the six guards who trailed them would be nuisances. Not to mention the shackles.**

**They entered a hallway hung with iron chandeliers. Outside the windows lining the wall, night had fallen; lanterns kindled so bright they offered few shadows to hide in.**

**From the courtyard, she could hear the other slaves shuffling toward the wooden building where they slept. The moans of agony amongst the clank of chains made a chorus as familiar as the dreary work songs they sang all day. The occasional solo of the whip added to the symphony of brutality Adarlan had created for its greatest criminals, poorest citizens, and latest conquests.**

I bowed my head. I could hear the sound of the salt mines all those people. Most didn't deserve to be there.

**While some of the prisoners were people accused of attempting to practice magic—not that they could, given that magic had vanished from the kingdom—these days, more and more rebels arrived at Endovier. Most were from Eyllwe, one of the last countries still fighting Adarlan’s rule. But when she pestered them for news, many just stared at her with empty eyes. Already broken. She shuddered to consider what they’d endured at the hands of Adarlan’s forces. Some days, she wondered if they would have been better off dying on the butchering blocks instead. And if she might have been better off dying that night she’d been betrayed and captured, too.**

I felt a wave of strong grief come over me. I felt my brows pinch together in confusion. I had had some peace with Sam 's death.

**But she had other things to think about as they continued their walk. Was she finally to be hanged? Sickness coiled in her stomach. She was important enough to warrant an execution from the Captain of the Royal Guard himself. But why bring her inside this building first?**

"No, Dorain( did I spell his right?) father prefared you at the mines." Chaol said in a quiet voice.

**At last, they stopped before a set of red-and-gold glass doors so thick that she couldn’t see through them. Captain Westfall jerked his chin at the two guards standing on either side of the doors, and they stomped their spears in greeting.**

**The captain’s grip tightened until it hurt.** I hissed as I felt a bruising pressure on my wrist. What the wyrd? This happened a long time ago. **He yanked Celaena closer, but her feet seemed made of lead and she pulled against him. “You’d rather stay in the mines?” he asked, sounding faintly amused.**

**“Perhaps if I were told what this was all about, I wouldn’t feel so inclined to resist.”**

**“You’ll find out soon enough.” Her palms became sweaty. Yes, she was going to die. It had come at last. I**

I wiped my hands on my pants. They were sweaty. Rowan raised an eyebrow. Everyone seem to do that a lot. I shook my head.

**The doors groaned open to reveal a throne room. A glass chandelier shaped like a grapevine occupied most of the ceiling, spitting seeds of diamond fire onto the windows along the far side of the room. Compared to the bleakness outside those windows, the opulence felt like a slap to the face. A reminder of how much they profited from her labor.**

I scowled.

**“In here,” the Captain of the Guard growled, and shoved her with his free hand, finally releasing her. Celaena stumbled, her calloused feet slipping on the smooth floor as she straightened herself. She looked back to see another six guards appear.**

**Fourteen guards, plus the captain. The gold royal emblem embroidered on the breast of black uniforms. These were members of the Royal Family’s personal guard: ruthless, lightning-swift soldiers trained from birth to protect and kill. She swallowed tightly.**

"Not all of them. " I said. turning a grateful eye to Chaol.

**Lightheaded and immensely heavy all at once, Celaena faced the room. On an ornate redwood throne sat a handsome young man. Her heart stopped as everyone bowed.**

**She was standing in front of the Crown Prince of Adarlan.**

As I set the book down, the door opened and in came a grinning Crown king of Adarlan, with a very annoyed looking Monon Blackbeak.


	4. Champion?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bow to Sarah J Mass, she made these wonderful characters, and honestly as much as I want them, they are her's. 
> 
> But I can see Aelin and quite a few others defining that claim, just cause they have there own freewill.;)

"Monon" Dorain said with laughter in his voice. "Just because were here deosn't mean we cant relax."

" Princeling we have to talk about The wastelands and dealing with Trades so our kingdoms can thrive." We all looked at them. Wondering when they got here.

" Monon, King Dorain." I dipped my head just a bit. " What do we owe the pleasure for your vist?" Monon didnt anwser she just growled her displassure and pulled out a chair, sitting down with a hard thump.

Dorain just grinned, his eyes lighter than they were in the last few months. "Why we came to see what all you goys were up to. After all we all need a break." I nodded my head. He pulled out a chair and sat, lighter then Monon's.

" So what are you guys reading?" he asked catching the sight of the books, sitting on the table. I lifted up the book so he could see and read the small group of words on the back and flipped it over to show a younger me on the cover. " Somebody wrote a book about you?" he asked, his tone filled with incredulity. There were smiles and snickers around the table as I said " Hey!"

Norrowing my eyes at a nervous looking Dorain, I raised my hand and throw the book at him.

I smiled, leaning back in my seat, as the book hit with a satisfying thud on his chest. He picked it from where it fell, rubbing his chest as he did so.

" You can read it now." I said. He opened his mouth to protest but I glared at him. Grummbling he turned to where we left off on started to read.

**Chapter 2**

**“Your Highness,” said the Captain of the Guard. He straightened from a low bow and removed his hood, revealing close-cropped chestnut hair. The hood had definitely been meant to intimidate her into submission during their walk. As if that sort of trick could work on her. Despite her irritation, she blinked at the sight of his face. He was so young!**

Chaol grinned. " Got you there." I gave him a sideways glare.

**Captain Westfall was not excessively handsome, but she couldn't help finding the ruggedness of his face and the clarity of his golden-brown eyes rather appealing. She cocked her head, now keenly aware of her wretched dirtiness.**

Chaol pouted now. Yerene laughed and kissed him lightly and said " Your look fine to me." I rolled my eyes, shaking my head with a grin.

**“This is she?” the Crown Prince of Adarlan asked, and Celaena’s head whipped around as the captain nodded. Both of them stared at her, waiting for her to bow. When she remained upright, Chaol shifted on his feet, and the prince glanced at his captain before lifting his chin a bit higher.**

**Bow to him indeed! If she were bound for the gallows, she would most certainly not spend the last moments of her life in groveling submission.**

" Again, Vain till the bitter end?" Rowan said. I shook my head. "Nope" I refused to bow for my own reason. Like I was gonna say that front of them. They my be my court but some things are just not worth being brought up. 

**Thundering steps issued from behind her, and someone grabbed her by the neck. Celaena only glimpsed crimson cheeks and a sandy mustache before being thrown to the icy marble floor. Pain slammed through her face, light splintering her vision. Her arms ached as her bound hands kept her joints from properly aligning. Though she tried to stop them, tears of pain welled.**

What happened after that was read was very fast. I suddenly went flying to floor, my chair thrown back, my arms I couldn't pull them forward to stop my fall. They felt like they were bound. There were cry's of surprise and panic as I went down. Rowan was my side almost as soon as that happened.

"Aelin?" I felt pain in my cheek. My arms ached. I shook my head, griting my teeth. " Am fine." Everyone paused. " why cant I move my arms?" I asked. I felt Rowan hand brushing against my hands and arms checking for anything that might be keeping me from moving my arms. " Nothing is keeping your arms and hands bound together." Rowan said. 

I was confused. I pulled at my arms, yakking at them, trying to bring them forward. I pulled until my protested in pain. I stopped for a moment. Wait. I remember this pain. This was like when Arobynn, my old master wanted my to learn how to escape the shakles. I started ahead. Why is this happening? The gods were stuck in their own world being hunted chased down.

"Aelin?" The way Adeion said my name, he was questioning my sanity again. I rolled my eyes what."Yes?" "Why are you smiling? You're stuck on the ground." I shrugged, well as best as I could. "I wonder why this happened?" I questioned. Turning my head as far as I could to look back at Rowan. He was staring at hands, waving his hands around mine, still trying to find whatever was holding my hands back. He just shook his head.

" Hey, what if we just kept reading?" Monon said. We looked at her with, are you serious right now? She rolled her eyes, her nails tapping against the side of her leg. " She went down when Princling finished reading the line, most likey she will be allowed back up if we keep reading." She raised an eyebrow.

Thinking about that for a few seconds rowan sat near me and said " Keep reading Dorain." Looking at us like we were crazy, he read the next few lines.

**“That is the proper way to greet your future king,” a red-faced man snapped at Celaena.**

**The assassin hissed, baring her teeth as she twisted her head to look at the kneeling bastard. He was almost as large as her overseer, clothed in reds and oranges that matched his thinning hair. His obsidian eyes glittered as his grip tightened on her neck. If she could move her right arm just a few inches, she could throw him off balance and grab his sword . . . The shackles dug into her stomach, and fizzing, boiling rage turned her face scarlet.**

**After a too-long moment, the Crown Prince spoke. “I don’t quite comprehend why you’d force someone to bow when the purpose of the gesture is to display allegiance and respect.” His words were coated with glorious boredom.**

**Celaena tried to pivot a free eye to the prince, but could only see a pair of black leather boots against the white floor.**

They all looked at me. Nothing happened, I could feel the pain of the shakles digging into my stomache despite the fact my hands were pinned behind my back and I was wearing none. I shook my head. Opened my mouth and closed it. " The next time am forced to bow at your feet Dorain, we well not be on good terms and it would be the _last_ time you saw anyone bow before you, willingly or not." I glared at him. He nodded.

I could practally see Rowan glaring at Chaol and Dorain. I smriked.

**“It’s clear that you respect me, Duke Perrington, but it’s a bit unnecessary to put such effort into forcing Celaena Sardothien to have the same opinion. You and I know very well she has no love for my family. So perhaps your intent is to humiliate her.” He paused, and she could have sworn his eyes fell on her face. “But I think she’s had enough of that.” He stopped for another moment, then asked: “Don’t you have a meeting with Endovier’s treasurer? I wouldn’t want you to be late, especially when you came all this way to meet with him.”**

I looked up at Dorain. " I am wondering, why did you in some way defend me? I was your worst enemy to you and your family." Dorain smiled. "Dispite the fact you were the most feared in Adarlan, " I smriked at the prise." You were drity and scrawwny, you were taken from all you known and brought to your knees in front of a prince of a land you did not respect, after a whole year of being a salve in one of the wrost places in Adarlan." He paused. I frowned at him, yes I suffered but still I was his wrost enemy. " At first I wasn't gonna say anything but..." he looked down. " seeing you forced to keel before me, it reminded me of.. well me." He fell quiet.

I turned my head away. Looking at one the few survivng taspeys of The Lord of the North. How many years have we, Dorain, Adeion, Rowan, Laysandra, Chaol all of us, spent years bowing and bending towards master how cared only for themsleves? Everyone was quiet. I cleared my throat." If you would Dorain?" He picked up the book.

**Understanding the dismissal, her tormentor grunted and released her. Celaena peeled her cheek from the marble but lay on the floor until he stood and left. If she managed to escape, perhaps she’d hunt down this Duke Perrington fellow and return the warmth of his greeting.**

I frowned. I didn't really get the chance. Did I?

**As she rose, she frowned at the imprint of grit she left behind on the otherwise spotless floor, and at the clank of her shackles echoing through the silent room. But she’d been trained to be an assassin since the age of eight, since the day the King of the Assassins found her half-dead on the banks of a frozen river and brought her to his keep. She wouldn’t be humiliated by anything, least of all being dirty. Gathering her pride, she tossed her long braid behind a shoulder and lifted her head. Her eyes met those of the prince.**

I sighed as the unseen force lifted off my back and I was able to stand. My arms free from their bonds. I stood up. Shaking out my hands and arms. Rowan stood with me. He put his arm around my waist and pushed me towards my fallen chair. Glaring, I went over to his chair and sat there. I smriked at him. He just walked over to me and picked me up and sat on the chair, dropping me on the ground. I was smriking now as I glared at him. I got up and got an idea. 

I sat on him. Hard. He grunted. Everyone just laughed. Monon just looked srtight ahead. Hmmm. 

**Dorian Havilliard smiled at her. It was a polished smile, and reeked of court-trained charm. Sprawled across the throne, he had his chin propped by a hand, his golden crown glinting in the soft light. On his black doublet, an emblazoned gold rendering of the royal wyvern occupied the entirety of the chest. His red cloak fell gracefully around him and his throne.**

Out of the conner of my eyes I saw Monon perk up at the metion of a wyvern. Then turned her head away. To late though, I saw a flash of pain in her eyes.

**Yet there was something in his eyes, strikingly blue—the color of the waters of the southern countries—and the way they contrasted with his raven-black hair that made her pause. He was achingly handsome, and couldn’t have been older than twenty.**

**Princes are not supposed to be handsome! They’re sniveling, stupid, repulsive creatures! This one . . . this . . . How unfair of him to be royal and beautiful.**

"Really?" said Dorain. " Your the one who worries weather you look good when your gonna go and kill someone." I just shrugged. Chaol just smiled. " That's our assassin." I glared. " Am no one's." I hissed. I had enough of people think that owned someone else." Aelin, he didn't mean it like that." Yerne said. I nodded my head. i know we all had been or felt like we were owned by someone else, it just struck us at moments.

Dorain just contined to read.

 **She shifted on her feet as he frowned, surveying her in turn. “I thought I asked you to clean her,”** Rowan snarled at Dorain. I just shook my head. I leaned against his chest. **he** **said to Captain Westfall, who stepped forward. She’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room. She looked at her rags and stained skin, and she couldn’t suppress the twinge of shame. What a miserable state for a girl of former beauty!**

Snorts of asmusment were sounded throughout the room.

**At a passing glance, one might think her eyes blue or gray, perhaps even green, depending on the color of her clothing. Up close, though, these warring hues were offset by the brilliant ring of gold around her pupils. But it was her golden hair that caught the attention of most, hair that still maintained a glimmer of its glory. In short, Celaena Sardothien was blessed with a handful of attractive features that compensated for the majority of average ones; and, by early adolescence, she’d discovered that with the help of cosmetics, these average features could easily match the extraordinary assets.**

Everyone looked at me.I looked the table. Laysandra just smiled at me, knowing every well why I used the make up. 

**But now, standing before Dorian Havilliard as little more than a gutter rat! Her face warmed as Captain Westfall spoke. “I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”**

**The Crown Prince shook his head when Chaol reached for her. “Don’t bother with the bath just yet. I can see her potential.” The prince straightened, keeping his attention on Celaena. “I don’t believe that we’ve ever had the pleasure of an introduction. But, as you probably know, I’m Dorian Havilliard, Crown Prince of Adarlan, perhaps now Crown Prince of most of Erilea.”**

**She ignored the surge and crash of bitter emotions that awoke with the name.**

I frowned. Rowan just tighted his arms that are wrapped around me. Dorain looked away. Chaol cleared his throat. Monon just looked ahead.

**“And you’re Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s greatest assassin. Perhaps the greatest assassin in all of Erilea.” He studied her tensed body before he raised his dark, well-groomed brows. “You seem a little young.” He rested his elbows on his thighs. “I’ve heard some rather fascinating stories about you. How do you find Endovier after living in such excess in Rifthold?”**

**Arrogant ass.**

"Hey!" I crakled. " It's true!" I said back.

**“I couldn’t be happier,” she crooned as her jagged nails cut into her palms.**

**“After a year, you seem to be more or less alive. I wonder how that’s possible when the average life expectancy in these mines is a month.”**

**“Quite a mystery, I’m sure.” She batted her eyelashes and readjusted her shackles as if they were lace gloves.**

**The Crown Prince turned to his captain. “She has somewhat of a tongue, doesn’t she? And she doesn’t sound like a member of the rabble.”**

**“I should hope not!” Celaena interjected.**

I just shook my head. Monon looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

**“Your Highness,” Chaol Westfall snapped at her.**

**“What?” Celaena asked.**

**“You will address him as ‘Your Highness.’ ”**

**Celaena gave him a mocking smile, and then returned her attention to the prince.**

"Yeah right." Aedion chukled. "Good luck with that." I snorted. Dorain just smiled.

**Dorian Havilliard, to her surprise, laughed. “You do know that you’re now a slave, don’t you? Has your sentence taught you nothing?”**

**Had her arms been unshackled, she would have crossed them. “I don’t see how working in a mine can teach anything beyond how to use a pickax.”**

Rowan. "Smart ass."

**“And you never tried to escape?”**

**A slow, wicked smile spread across her lips. “Once.”**

**The prince’s brows rose, and he turned to Captain Westfall. “I wasn’t told that.”**

**Celaena glanced over her shoulder at Chaol, who gave his prince an apologetic look. “The Chief Overseer informed me this afternoon that there was one incident. Three months—”**

**“Four months,” she interrupted.**

**“Four months,” Chaol said, “after Sardothien arrived, she attempted to flee.”**

I snorted. " Attempted?, That wasn't the goal." I muttered.

**She waited for the rest of the story, but he was clearly finished. “That’s not even the best part!”**

**“There’s a ‘best part’?” the Crown Prince said, face caught between a wince and a smile.**

**Chaol glared at her before speaking. “There’s no hope of escaping from Endovier. Your father made sure that each of Endovier’s sentries could shoot a squirrel from two hundred paces away. To attempt to flee is suicide.”**

**“But you’re alive,” the prince said to her.**

**Celaena’s smile faded as the memory struck her. “Yes.”**

**“What happened?” Dorian asked.**

**Her eyes turned cold and hard. “I snapped.”**

Monon bared her teeth in a smile." I snapped." She said. 

**“That’s all you have to offer as an explanation for what you did?” Captain Westfall demanded. “She killed her overseer and twenty-three sentries before they caught her. She was a finger’s tip from the wall before the guards knocked her unconscious.”**

I was pulled back into the memory. It was quite a bloodbath. I smiled. Not the nice kind of smile.

**“So?” Dorian said.**

**Celaena seethed. “So? Do you know how far the wall is from the mines?” He gave her a blank look. She closed her eyes and sighed dramatically. “From my shaft, it was three hundred sixty-three feet. I had someone measure.”**

**“So?” Dorian repeated.**

**“Captain Westfall, how far do slaves make it from the mines when they try to escape?”**

**“Three feet,” he muttered. “Endovier sentries usually shoot a man down before he’s moved three feet.”**

**The Crown Prince’s silence was not her desired effect. “You knew it was suicide,” he said at last, the amusement gone.**

**Perhaps it had been a bad idea for her to bring up the wall. “Yes,” she said.**

......

**“But they didn’t kill you.”**

**“Your father ordered that I was to be kept alive for as long as possible—to endure the misery that Endovier gives in abundance.” A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature went through her. “I never intended to escape.” The pity in his eyes made her want to hit him.**

**“Do you bear many scars?” asked the prince. She shrugged and he smiled, forcing the mood to lift as he stepped from the dais. “Turn around, and let me view your back.” Celaena frowned, but obeyed as he walked to her, Chaol stepping closer. “I can’t make them out clearly through all this dirt,” the prince said, inspecting what skin showed through the scraps of her shirt. She scowled, and scowled even more when he said, “And what a terrible stench, too!”**

**“When one doesn’t have access to a bath and perfume, I suppose one cannot smell as finely as you, Your Highness.”**

**The Crown Prince clicked his tongue and circled her slowly. Chaol—and all the guards—watched them with hands on their swords. As they should. In less than a second, she could get her arms over the prince’s head and have her shackles crushing his windpipe. It might be worth it just to see the expression on Chaol’s face. But the prince went on, oblivious to how dangerously close he stood to her. Perhaps she should be insulted. “From what I can see,” he said, “there are three large scars—and perhaps some smaller ones. Not as awful as I expected, but . . . well, the dresses can cover it, I suppose.”**

"How easy it would have been." I said. I turned to Dorain. "To crush your windpipe, and no one would have been able to stop me." Dorain gave me a looked that was wary.

**“Dresses?” He was standing so near that she could see the fine thread detail on his jacket, and smelled not perfume, but horses and iron.**

**Dorian grinned. “What remarkable eyes you have! And how angry you are!”**

**Coming within strangling distance of the Crown Prince of Adarlan, son of the man who sentenced her to a slow, miserable death, her self-control balanced on a fragile edge—dancing along a cliff.**

Monon. " I wonder what would have happened if you have snapped? Would his power have awakened and defenened him?" I thought about it. "No." Came from Dorain." My father had Aelin surrouned in iron, she was to close my magic would have just slept."

**“I demand to know,” she began, but the Captain of the Guard pulled her back from the prince with spine-snapping force. “I wasn’t going to kill him, you buffoon.”**

**“Watch your mouth before I throw you back in the mines,” the brown-eyed captain said.**

**“Oh, I don’t think you’d do that.”**

**“And why is that?” Chaol replied.**

**Dorian strode to his throne and sat down, his sapphire eyes bright.**

**She looked from one man to another and squared her shoulders. “Because there’s something you want from me, something you want badly enough to come here yourselves. I’m not an idiot, though I was foolish enough to be captured, and I can see that this is some sort of secret business. Why else would you leave the capital and venture this far? You’ve been testing me all this time to see if I am physically and mentally sound. Well, I know that I’m still sane, and that I’m not broken, despite what the incident at the wall might suggest. So I demand to be told why you’re here, and what services you wish of me, if I’m not destined for the gallows.”**

I just looked ahead, we are all smart enough to know how I came to that.

**The men exchanged glances. Dorian steepled his fingers. “I have a proposition for you.”**

**Her chest tightened. Never, not in her most fanciful dreams, had she imagined that the opportunity to speak with Dorian Havilliard would arise. She could kill him so easily, tear that grin from his face . . . She could destroy the king as he had destroyed her . . .**

......

**But perhaps his proposition could lead to escape. If she got beyond the wall, she could make it. Run and run and disappear into the mountains and live in solitude in the dark green of the wild, with a pine-needle carpet and a blanket of stars overhead. She could do it. She just needed to clear the wall. She had come so close before . . .**

I looked beyond the room, that book, and saw what I wished for years ago in that room above the salve mine, and I think back to now, how I got here, what all we had to give. I shook my head. I would do it again, never would I have changed it. Well besides maybe Maeve not exsiting. But then.. no, I would take on Maeve anyday. I smiled.

**“I’m listening,” was all she said.**

We all looked at each other. Dorain had shut the book, marking the page. That was a haevy chapter. I eyed the rest of the books. What would those books bring to us? Memreys of pain and misry? 


	5. Hmmm.... Time to plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing but my plot of this fanfiction, not the plot of the book itself.

We all looked at each other. Looks of uncertainess was being shot around. I took the book from Dorain, and set it on the table. Manon cleared her throat."Well, this is nice, now lets get onto, why in the hell did _you,_ " she looked at me. I raised an eyebrow "were thrown to the ground and restrined." There were mumbles of agreement and qeustions.

I looked over at the window, the sun, was about just in the middle of the sky. " Well." I said. "Lets take a break from those books and talk about this over lunch." Adeion glacned over at Lysandra. She was just staring off into space. _Hmm.._ Fenrys just grinned and walked out of the room. " Well, I for one, is hungry, so before all you annoying old fae get to the food am go stuff it down my mouth." I smriked as the rest of my court, and Dorain all protesed. 

* * *

As I made my way down to where we usally eat, I was thinking about that small part of where I was thrown to the ground. _Even when I was reading the book, I felt what I was reading._ A frown pulled at my mouth. If this, if everything we read in the books effects us as we read... I gritted my teeth. How are we going to deal with this? Who was causing this? I huffed, reaching the wooden door, pushing it open. There were Adeion and Fenyrs, each have a hand a pigs leg, tugging it back and forth. I shook my head, amused. Manon was watching with a blank space. Dorain was eating his food ponitly avoiding looking at the two.

Lysandra was egging them on. Chaol and Yerne were just eating talking about the book, and what happened so far, and what might come. I glaneced around and saw Rowan, chewing on his food. I went up to the table and started filling a plate with food, I scooped up some, mashed up potaos, two slices of buttered bread, then reached between Adeion and Fenrys and grabbed ahold of the pig leg. They both turned to me and let out sounds of challenge, I tugged. They both started tugging against me and the other. I smirked sending a small flame along the leg, lighty burning their hands. Yelping, they let go. Smiling, I walked over to Rowan and sat next to him, taking a bite out of the leg.

Adeion rolled his eyes when he figuered out what happened. Fenrys looked sad. Then saw a peice of pig foot and swipped it before anyone else could. Lysandra just laughed when Adeion looked at her with pleading eyes. "It's your own fault, you shoukd know by now that playing with your food well mean you lose it." 

Rowan, then said to me." You just had to take that leg?" There was a smug hint in his tone. I hummed a yes. I let everyone enjoy thier food. They rarly have the time to relax so, I just give them so time before I bring up my thory with the books.

When the plates were half empty, I said "I have a idea of why I was thrown to the ground." The talking stopped. They all looked at me." What is your idea?" Adeion asked slowly. " My idea, is that everytrhing that happens in the books, those people who are..were effected by what is happening, they will feel the effects too." Everyone: ..... 

* * *

After that little talk, we all headed back to the room. We all sat down. "So.. who reading the next chapter?" Fenrys asked. 

"Well, you just voleentered yourself Fenyrs." Said a smriking Rowan. Fenrys looked at everyone, seeing no faces of willing readers, well Manon seen like she could care less if we didn't read the books at all.

Fenyrs picked up the book, 

**Chapter 3**

**The prince’s eyes shone with amusement at her brashness but lingered a bit too long on her body. Celaena could have raked her nails down his face for staring at her like that, yet the fact that he’d even bother to look when she was in such a filthy state . . . A slow smile spread across her face.**

**The prince crossed his long legs. “Leave us,” he ordered the guards. “Chaol, stay where you are.”**

**Celaena stepped closer as the guards shuffled out, shutting the door. Foolish, foolish move. But Chaol’s face remained unreadable. He couldn’t honestly believe he’d contain her if she tried to escape! She straightened her spine. What were they planning that would make them so irresponsible?**

I looked at Dorain and Chaol. "Really, you two, that was foolish, weakend state or not, I could have, given the chance,killed Dorain, then Chaol.Then where would we be? All under Ewran's[?] control" _Well, I would have been dead by then_. "We had soldiers posted outside of the doors." said Choal. Doarion nodded but said. "Still, Aelin still proves her point, we both know how dangerous she was then. We were both aware we were playing with, forgive my saying here, playing with fire." Choal bowed his head to his King.

**The prince chuckled. “Don’t you think it’s risky to be so bold with me when your freedom is on the line?”**

**Of all the things he could have said, that was what she had least expected. “My freedom?” At the sound of the word, she saw a land of pine and snow, of sun-bleached cliffs and white-capped seas, a land where light was swallowed in the velvety green of bumps and hollows—a land that she had forgotten.**

I bowed my head. The flashes of that day went through my head. 

**“Yes, your freedom. So, I highly suggest, Miss Sardothien, that you get your arrogance in check before you end up back in the mines.” The prince uncrossed his legs. “Though perhaps your attitude will be useful. I’m not going to pretend that my father’s empire was built on trust and understanding. But you already know that.” Her fingers curled as she waited for him to continue. His eyes met hers, probing, intent. “My father has gotten it into his head that he needs a Champion.”**

I gritted my teeth, yes I had known that very well. "Am sorry, Aelin." Dorain siad. I shook my head. "It was needed then. We were did not know each other. I was the assassain, you were the king son, it was expected." Dorain just nodded his head. 

**It took a delicious moment for her to understand.**

**Celaena tipped back her head and laughed. “Your father wants me to be his Champion? What—don’t tell me that he’s managed to eliminate every noble soul out there! Surely there’s one chivalrous knight, one lord of steadfast heart and courage.”**

I creakled up over it now, only this time Chaol and Dorain joinned.

**“Mind your mouth,” Chaol warned from beside her.**

**“What about you, hmm?” she said, raising her brows at the captain. Oh, it was too funny! Her—the King’s Champion! “Our beloved king finds you lacking?”**

Chaol mumbled. "Not my King." Dorain looked over at Chaol. Raising an eyebrow at Chaol in qeustion. Chaoljust shook his head. "Am sure it will be explained in the books."

**The captain put a hand on his sword. “If you’d be quiet, you’d hear the rest of what His Highness has to tell you.”**

**She faced the prince. “Well?”**

**Dorian leaned back in his throne. “My father needs someone to aid the empire—someone to help him maneuver around difficult people.”**

**“You mean he needs a lackey for his dirty work.”**

**“If you want to put it that bluntly, then, yes,” the prince said. “His Champion would keep his opponents quiet.”**

**“As quiet as the grave,” she said sweetly.**

I showed the same smile. Yes, I had made many as queit as the grave. Must to the horror of Chaol and Dorain.

**A smile tugged on Dorian’s lips, but he kept his face straight. “Yes.”**

**To work for the King of Adarlan as his loyal servant. She raised her chin. To kill for him—to be a fang in the mouth of the beast that had already consumed half of Erilea . . . “And if I accept?”**

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "You can speak in peom, instering." I gave him a sideways look of amusment and counfuion. "Why? Do you wish me to tell you a peom?" Rowan gave me a unamused look. I just grinned back at him, showing my teeth. 

**“Then, after six years, he’ll grant you your freedom.”**

**“Six years!” But the word “freedom” echoed through her once more.**

**“If you decline,” Dorian said, anticipating her next question, “you’ll remain in Endovier.” His sapphire eyes became hard, and she swallowed. And die here was what he didn’t need to add.**

**Six years as the king’s crooked dagger . . . or a lifetime in Endovier.**

"Freedom." I said shortly. " Always comes at a price." There were many nodding of heads.

**“However,” the prince said, “there’s a catch.” She kept her face neutral as he toyed with a ring on his finger. “The position isn’t being offered to you. Yet. My father thought to have a bit of fun. He’s hosting a competition. He invited twenty-three members of his council to each sponsor a would-be Champion to train in the glass castle and ultimately compete in a duel. Were you to win,” he said with a half smile, “you’d officially be Adarlan’s Assassin.”**

**She didn’t return his smile. “Who, exactly, are my competitors?”**

"O you know, just a bunch of half ass fighters, none of them really a challenege, so don't worry, this should be easy for you. O wait! i forgot to tell you, there this one person who messes around magic, which is banned, under the King's order." I muttered under my breath. "Not only that, he calls to otherworldly ceatures! Killing off pently of the frighters." 

"What!" I said when everyone was looking at me. Dorain just smriked. 

**Seeing her expression, the prince’s grin faded. “Thieves and assassins and warriors from across Erilea.” She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “If you win, and prove yourself both skilled and trustworthy, my father has sworn to grant you your freedom. And, while you’re his Champion, you’ll receive a considerable salary.”**

**She barely heard his last few words. A competition! Against some nobody men from the-gods-knew-where! And assassins! “What other assassins?” she demanded.**

**“None that I’ve heard of. None as famous as you. And that reminds me—you won’t be competing as Celaena Sardothien.”**

**“What?”**

**“You’ll compete under an alias. I don’t suppose you heard about what happened after your trial.”**

**“News is rather hard to come by when you’re slaving in a mine.”**

**Dorian chuckled, shaking his head. “No one knows that Celaena Sardothien is just a young woman—they all thought you were far older.”**

I huffed insauted. Dorain laughed. "Are you still mad about that?!" I glared at him. Chaol just shook his head. Lysandra grinned.

 **“What?** ” **she asked again, her face flushing. “How is that possible?” She should be proud that she’d kept it hidden from most of the world, but . . .**

**“You kept your identity a secret all the years you were running around killing everyone. After your trial, my father thought it would be . . . wise not to inform Erilea who you are. He wants to keep it that way. What would our enemies say if they knew we’d all been petrified of a girl?”**

**“So I’m slaving in this miserable place for a name and title that don’t even belong to me? Who does everyone think Adarlan’s Assassin really is?”**

_What did they think, who did they think Adarlan's Assassin is?_

**“I don’t know, nor do I entirely care. But I do know that you were the best, and that people still whisper when they mention your name.” He fixed her with a stare. “If you’re willing to fight for me, to be my Champion during the months the competition will go on, I’ll see to it that my father frees you after five years.”**

**Though he tried to conceal it, she could see the tension in his body. He wanted her to say yes. Needed her to say yes so badly he was willing to bargain with her. Her eyes began glittering. “What do you mean, ‘were the best’?”**

**“You’ve been in Endovier for a year. Who knows what you’re still capable of?”**

**“I’m capable of quite a lot, thank you,” she said, picking at her jagged nails. She tried not to cringe at all the dirt beneath them. When was the last time her hands had been clean?**

"A long time." I said before anyone could ask.

**“That remains to be seen,” Dorian said. “You’ll be told the details of the competition when we arrive in Rifthold.”**

**“Despite the amount of fun you nobles will have betting on us, this competition seems unnecessary. Why not just hire me already?”**

**“As I just said, you must prove yourself worthy.”**

**She put a hand on her hip, and her chains rattled loudly through the room. “Well, I think being Adarlan’s Assassin exceeds any sort of proof you might need.”**

**“Yes,” Chaol said, his bronze eyes flashing. “It proves that you’re a criminal, and that we shouldn’t immediately trust you with the king’s private business.”**

**“I give my solemn oa—”**

**“I doubt that the king would take the word of Adarlan’s Assassin as bond.”**

I shrugged, nodding my head. " True." 

**“Yes, but I don’t see why I have to go through the training and the competition. I mean, I’m bound to be a bit . . . out of shape, but . . . what else do you expect when I have to make do with rocks and pickaxes in this place?” She gave Chaol a spiteful glance.**

**Dorian frowned. “So, you won’t take the offer?”**

**“Of course I’m going to take the offer,” she snapped. Her wrists chafed against her shackles badly enough that her eyes watered. “I’ll be your absurd Champion if you agree to free me in three years, not five.”**

**“Four.”**

**“Fine,” she said. “It’s a bargain. I might be trading one form of slavery for another, but I’m not a fool.”**

Rowan snorted. "Yeah, not a fool." I shot a flame of orange at him. He blasted it away with his ice-wind.

**She could win back her freedom. Freedom. She felt the cold air of the wide-open world, the breeze that swept from the mountains and carried her away. She could live far from Rifthold, the capital that had once been her realm.**

**“Hopefully you’re right,” Dorian replied. “And hopefully, you’ll live up to your reputation. I anticipate winning, and I won’t be pleased if you make me look foolish.”**

**“And what if I lose?”**

**The gleam vanished from his eyes as he said: “You’ll be sent back here, to serve out the remainder of your sentence.”**

**Celaena’s lovely visions exploded like dust from a slammed book. “Then I might as well leap from the window. A year in this place has worn me through—imagine what will happen if I return. I’d be dead by my second year.” She tossed her head. “Your offer seems fair enough.”**

"So causaul you talk about your death" Fenyrs said. "What could have done? You try to escape, you were shot, or wipped. Jumping from a window to my death seems eaiser then dying by another hands, disgraced and beaten." Adeion sighed. "There are more then one points in our life's were we all have thought how easily it would have been if we just eneded it." Dorain nodded. "When Sorscha was killed by my Father, and when the Vlag Coller was put on me." he said quetly. " When I had thought Aelin had died by The Keys." Rowan shared. We were all queit. Then Manon. "We The Thirteen died taking down The Whitch Tower. I still struggle." Dorain wrapped an arm around her slowly, giving her the cahnce to stop him, when she didn't he pulled her to his side. Her face full of greif and pain. 

We all were quiet as Manon pulled herself together and pulled away from Dorain. She looked out the window, avioding everyone's eyes. Fenyrs cleared his thoart, tears leaking down his face. He read the last of the chapter.

**“Fair enough indeed,” Dorian said, and waved a hand at Chaol. “Take her to her rooms and clean her up.” He fixed her with a stare. “We depart for Rifthold in the morning. Don’t disappoint me, Sardothien.”**

**It was nonsense, of course. How difficult could it be to outshine, outsmart, and then obliterate her competitors? She didn’t smile, for she knew that if she did, it would open her to a realm of hope that had long been closed. But still, she felt like seizing the prince and dancing. She tried to think of music, tried to think of a celebratory tune, but could only recall a solitary line from the mournful bellowing of the Eyllwe work songs, deep and slow like honey poured from a jar: “And go home at last . . .”**

**She didn’t notice when Captain Westfall led her away, nor did she notice when they walked down hall after hall.**

**Yes, she would go—to Rifthold, to anywhere, even through the Gates of the Wyrd and into Hell itself, if it meant freedom.**

**After all, you aren’t Adarlan’s Assassin for nothing.**

Setting the book down, Fenrys headed out the door. As did Chaol and Yerne, Adeion, Manon, Darion following her. I sat there, leaning against Rowan as he rested his head on top of mine, gerving for a wamon that wasn't, at first thought was his mate, that was killed and his child along with her. I sat there, tears going down my face as rembered Sam.


	6. Time to go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I don't own any of the charaters or the books.
> 
> Underlined and bolded words are Choal and Aelin speaking at the same time.

As I followed Monon down the hall to her set of rooms, I watched her. See might be a witch but she still had emotion and still had a heart that can hurt. She walked as almost she was uncertain of where she was going. Every now and then I could see her shoulders shake a little when she repressing a sob.

When we made it to her rooms, she opened her doors and went in. I paused. Would she let me in?She had left the door open so I went in. 

Her first room of her chamber had a fireplace which was barely crackling. The walls were pressed with panic of a nice gray, the frames were a shade of white. The carpets was a bright blue with some gold patterns curling around. One side of the room had two giant Windows, light streaming from them. Between them was a smaller window, with one side open. 

I walked toward the one window, climbing out. I looked about to see Monon get on her wyvern, Abraxos, and taking off. I watched as Abraxos carried Monon father away. I sighed but stood there. I would wait until she returns, that if, she does. return.

* * *

Fenyrs had ran as soon as he was out of the room. His late brother, Connell, flashling through his mind. He could hear the dagger being put into his chest under Mevae's, that cold-hearted bitch, word. The flash of blood that followed. His eyes going flat as he left his body. Fenyrs held back a sob. He never had been the same after Connell's death, sure he would act like his old self, but inside he carried the death of his brother. Fenyrs sat hard on the ground, his back resting against the wall of the hallway.

Why? His brother, who had been there when, he had gotten in trouble for messing with the chicken, dying it green, Connell took the blame. his brother who kept from Meave's grasp, puting himself in his place. Why did it have to be him? Fenyrs hanged his head in grief, tears leaking down his face as he thought of the good times. Of when he and Connell tricked some of the guards,appering and disppearing, making them belive that they were seeing things. Of when they first entered Wendlyn, before they had ment Meave, they explored the city.

Fenyrs gave a bitter smile. Now he was gone.

* * *

I lifted my head from Rowan's chest only to find him staring out the window. Watching the mountains. Then. "I wish you could've ment Lyrisa. You to would have gotten along, well you would have been a little difficult, but Lyrisa had a way about her that would just not,..She would have not left anyone alone, even if you didn't want someone around, she would sit beside you and just wait." His eyes looked at me briefly . "And and wait until you would just tell her because she was there. She listened to every word and then would tell you something that would make you feel better." A smile appeared on his face . "She just would never give up on you."

Rowan stopped speaking, waiting to see if I would talk but I just said " I would have liked to have ment her Rowan. " Then I just paid my head back against him. Looking over to the window, at the mountains, wondering what would have happened if I have ment Rowan and Lyrisa. How would have Rowan reacted to not one but two mates? Would Meave keep tricking Rowan's instincts? Or have Lyrisa killed off?

* * *

It was nearly night when Monon returned. She had to get away. Abraxos had carried her far away. Away from the book that seem to cause her undue pain. Abraxos had carried her to a small clearing,surrounded by pine trees. She slid off Abraxos, lending with a light thud. Handed right for the pine trees, she had shredded the trees, taking out her anger and giref out on them.

Later, when she had fallen to the ground, Abraxos laid down next her,his head resting against the ground, nugging her leg. Letting out growls of worry and concern. She had just signed and rubbed the top of his head and said "Nursemaid of a Wyvern."

Later, now, she and Abraxos had returned. Sitting in one of the armchairs, watching the fire as it burned. The princeling had waited. She walked over to where he sat. Looking down at him, _Strange._ She mused. She had come to like the pirnce too. But he is still a human man, a mortal. A lifespan that was tiny compared to those of an immortal. It would be ponitless to start a relationship with him.

"Why are you here?" She asked. The prince didn't say anything. Monon could make out the flickers of nerveness among the fire reflected in his eyes. When sat there in silence. The fire crackling away until it was almost died out, then did the princeling stand up and turn towards her. He looked at her. Then said "Am here because am waiting for you." Then turned towards the door and walked out. 

_"Am waiting for you."_

* * *

I moved from Rowan, standing. I could see the sun setting. We could read one more chapter. I turned towards Rowan, he was already standing, shaking out any sleepyness in his limbs from sitting to long. I gave him a hug. I useally don't hug people and Rowan deosn't at all. He froze, then his arms slid around me holding me close. Then let me go and we headed towards the door.

We both walked out the door and down the hall looking for the others. It was a while before we ran across Fenyrs. His head in his hands, shoulders shaking. Queitly I kneeled down next to him. Putting my hand on his shoulder. we stayed like that, Fenyrs sitting on the floor, me kneeling beside him and Rowan, standing,looking away, offering Fenyrs a sense of privcy and a moment of silence for his brother Connell. After a while Fenyrs sholders stopped shaking. He raised his head and I blinked three times.He blinked once. His eyes rimmed red from crying.

Nodding my head, I stood up and held out my hand, waiting to see if he would take it. He looked at my hand then waved it off, standing on his own. Fenyrs offered Rowan and I a smile, that was aimed towards, am ok but fell into the am hurting but am hide it. i gave a bearly there smile back. I titled my head in the diraction Rowan and I were heading. "Rown and I are looking for the rest of us, we could read another chapter before we head to bed or do whatever you guys do." He nodded.

After wondering for a little we came across Lysandra, she was resting her head in Adeion's lap, his hand resting on her furred head. Adeion was saying something to Lysandra, but as we walked up, he stopped. Lysandra stood, sreatching out her form. Her teeth clicked against each other, ending a yawn. The there was Lysandra standing in front of us, human.

Adeion stood, creaking his back as he went up. He looked a little worn.

"So are we reading the next chapter or are we calling it quit's till tomarrow?" Lysandra asked. "Were reading one more, then were free to do whatever it is you guys do for your nightly adventures." I stated. She nodded her head. "Let's go find the others then."

* * *

Chaol and Yerne found us. They too wanted to read another chapter of the book before heading to bed. Yerne was tired and Chaol really wasn't to keen on staying up more then he had to. So we all headed off to find Monon and Dorain. They had both left togother, Dorain following Monon. Hopefully both of them will be in the same place. But we soon discover that is not the case. We found Monon, well Fenyrs did, he happened to be looking out the window and spotted her next to Abraxos, feeding him, what looked like deer meat.

Monon joined us after her and I had a yelling match. Monon did not want to read another chapter and was done for today, but I threatend to tie her up and read the whole book to her if didn't get up here. Then she asked how was going to tie her up? She could just fight me off and get away. I just yelled I could take her down in a fight. She just laughed. But had come up anyways, well not before feeding Abraxos and making sure he had enough water to last him the night, this useally would have taken three mintnes, but Monon took up to twenty. She was still smirking.

* * *

After looking around most of the castle, we returned to room, only to find our goal, sitting in one of the chairs, studying one of the books, the one with a flash of flame on the cover. "Dorain!" Both Choal and I called. His head jerked up. "What?" he asked grinning.

"You know what."I said. We all sat in our sets. Monon on the other side table than Dorain I noted. _Wonder what happened there._ I turned my head studying Fenyrs. He worried me the most right now. He might be annoying but he my blood sworn and a great friend. I didn't like it, how his eyes seem to be more dull than before. I know very well what happens to those who can't or don't fight back. I snorted. I was there.

I gave Fenyrs a small smile when he looked over at at my snort. He tipped his head in thanks. I looked away waving my hand. "So," said Monon "this crazy person over there" she ponited at me. "said we could read one more chapter before doing whatever we do at night." There were mumbles of disagreement but no one spoke up. Reaching over for the book, I grabbed it and handed it off to Rowan. He scowled but opened it and begain to read. 

**When Celaena finally collapsed onto a bed after her meeting in the throne room, she couldn’t fall asleep, despite the exhaustion in every inch of her body. After being roughly bathed by brutish servants, the wounds on her back throbbed and her face felt like it had been scrubbed to the bone.**

I shifted in my seat. My back felt like it was burning, just a little. I could feel phatom scars runing across my back. I winced a bit. _Why am I feeling the effects? Will the other feel the effects too?_ No one seemed uncomforable.

**Shifting to lie on her side to ease the pain in her dressed and bound back, she ran her hand down the mattress, and blinked at the freeness of movement. Before she’d gotten into the bath, Chaol had removed her shackles. She’d felt everything—the reverberations of the key turning in the lock of her irons, then again as they loosened and fell to the floor. She could still feel the ghost chains hovering just above her skin. Looking up at the ceiling, she rotated her raw, burning joints and gave a sigh of contentment.**

Dorain grinned."Of corse." He said. Chaol looked at him questionly. " I just came up with a answer to my Kingdoms military." Chaol just shook his. I might have known Dorain and Chaol for a few years but they have know each other longer than I been around. Watching them in those early days of the compation, I had wish, that I was that lucky to have someone like that. 

**But it was too strange to lie on a mattress, to have silk caress her skin and a pillow cradle her cheek. She had forgotten what food other than soggy oats and hard bread tasted like, what a clean body and clothes could do to a person. Now it was utterly foreign.**

**Though her dinner hadn’t been that wonderful. Not only was the roast chicken unimpressive, but after a few forkfuls, she’d dashed into the bathroom to deposit the contents of her stomach. She wanted to eat, to put a hand to a swollen belly, to wish that she’d never eaten a morsel and swear that she’d never eat again. She’d eat well in Rifthold, wouldn’t she? And, more importantly, her stomach would adjust.**

_Yes_ , I mused. _I did get use to it, and I enjoyed every bit of the food._ Choal chuckled. "You ate food as if it grow a pair of legs and try to run from you." I smiled, not deining it. Then I hread Adeion mumbling something about how much the females ate. I eyed him. Raising an eyebrow.

 **She’d wasted away to nothing. Beneath her nightgown, her ribs reached out from inside of her, showing bones where flesh and meat should have been. And her** **breasts! Once well-formed, they were now no larger than they’d been in the midst of puberty. A lump clogged her throat, which she promptly swallowed down. The softness of the mattress smothered her, and she shifted again, lying on her back, despite the pain it gave her.**

**Her face hadn’t been much better when she glimpsed it in the washroom mirror. It was haggard: her cheekbones were sharp, her jaw pronounced, and her eyes slightly, but ever so disturbingly, sunken in. She took steadying breaths, savoring the hope. She’d eat. A lot. And exercise. She could be healthy again. Imagining outrageous feasts and regaining her former glory, she finally fell asleep.**

There were small laughs from around the table from the last line. I gave a small smile. Laughter was still little these days. But soon, hopefully Terrasean shall grow and thrive in this new world were making.

**When Chaol came to fetch her the next morning, he found her sleeping on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. “Sardothien,” he said. She made a mumbling noise, burying her face farther into the pillow. “Why are you sleeping on the ground?” She opened an eye. Of course, he didn’t mention how different she looked now that she was clean.**

**She didn’t bother concealing herself with the blanket as she stood. The yards of fabric they called a nightgown covered her enough. “The bed was uncomfortable,” she said simply, but quickly forgot the captain as she beheld the sunlight.**

**Pure, fresh, warm sunlight. Sunlight that she could bask in day after day if she got her freedom, sunlight to drown out the endless dark of the mines. It leaked in through the heavy drapes, smearing itself across the room in thick lines. Gingerly, Celaena stretched out a hand.**

**Her hand was pale, almost skeletal, but there was something about it, something beyond the bruises and cuts and scars, that seemed beautiful and new in the morning light.**

**She ran to the window and nearly ripped the curtains from their hangings as she opened them to the gray mountains and bleakness of Endovier. The guards positioned beneath the window didn’t glance upward, and she gaped at the bluish-gray sky, at the clouds slipping on their shoes and shuffling toward the horizon.**

**I will not be afraid. For the first time in a while, the words felt true.**

I nodded. "I would imagine," Choal said."That with someone who never meet, at your back, you would not feel safe." I shurgged my shoulders. "Perhaps, I knew you wouldn't attack, even when I was open to it." Choal smirked."But." I said " I knew to some extent, that you were not allowed to hurt me. Under Dorain's order." Choal looked put out. I gave him a lopsided smile.

**Her lips peeled into a smile. The captain raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.**

**She was cheerful—jubilant, really—and her mood improved when the servants coiled her braided hair onto the back of her head and dressed her in a surprisingly fine riding habit that concealed her miserably thin form. She loved clothes—loved the feeling of silk, of velvet, of satin, of suede and chiffon—and was fascinated by the grace of seams, the intricate perfection of an embossed surface. And when she won this ridiculous competition, when she was free . . . she could buy all the clothes she wanted.**

Yes, I had bought quite a few clothing items. Some that were amazing. Other I had no problem leaving behind. _Wonder if the clothes are still there?_ Probly stolen by now. At least the clothes could be sold for a quite a price. I wonder, how much of those sold cothing were used, shown off? Or just sitting someone's closet, never to be worn.

**She laughed when Chaol, irked at how Celaena stood in front of the mirror for five minutes, admiring herself, half-dragged her out of the room. The budding sky made her want to dance and skip down the halls before they entered the main yard.**

"Dance and skip down the halls." Dorain mused. "What a sight that would have been." He had a smile on face. Fenyrs gave a chuckle. "I can see it now." Dorain said. "An assassion, looking half dead, dancing down the hall." Chaol tapped his fingers against his chairs arm." I wonder how many looks you would have gotton?"

**However, she faltered as she beheld the mounds of bone-colored rock at the far end of the compound, and the small figures going in and out of the many mouthlike holes cut into the mountains.**

**Work had already begun for the day, work that would continue without her when she left them all to this miserable fate. Her stomach clenching, Celaena averted her eyes from the prisoners, keeping up with the captain as they headed to a caravan of horses near the towering wall.**

**Yapping filled the air, and three black dogs sprinted from the center of the caravan to greet them. They were each sleek as arrows—undoubtedly from the Crown Prince’s kennels. She knelt on one knee, her bound wounds protesting as she cupped their heads and stroked their smooth hair. They licked her fingers and face, their tails slashing the ground like whips.**

I gave a small jerk when I felt the phatom fur and licks of dogs. _Fleetfoot. She should be back soon._ Fleetfoot loves to explore the ground or keeping Evangeline company. Sometimes I think, that Fleetfoot likes Evangeline better. I wouldn't blame the dog, I have not been the most of steadfast owner's. Only seeing me here and there. But still, everytime I walk up to her she greets me with all the love and joy in her world.

Looked down at my hands. I owe her some time. Ruling a kingdom that rebliulding day by day leaves me with little room to play with Fleetfoot. 

**A pair of ebony boots stopped before her, and the dogs immediately calmed and sat. Celaena lifted her gaze to find the sapphire eyes of the Crown Prince of Adarlan studying her face. He smiled slightly. “How unusual for them to notice you,” he said, scratching one of the dogs behind the ears. “Did you give them food?”**

**She shook her head as the captain stepped behind her, so close that his knees grazed the folds of her forest-green velvet cape. It would take all of two movements to disarm him.**

Choal chuckled. "Were you always looking disarm or maim someone?" I shurgged my shoulders. "What did you expect. We are all trained at killing our opponents. I was at an disavantge, I was always on gaurd." Dorain just shook his head."You didn't think that prehaps, that I needed you alive in order to compete?" I tilted my head. "Yes, but dispite your orders, am sure there would be quite a few who undermine it and try and kill me." Adeion the said. "How many people tryed to upsstart you Dorain?" Dorain went still, his lips pressing together.

"Four." he said. I looked at him, curious to when this happened. He just shook his head. "Later." Monon looked interested. _Hmm.. maybe I can dip my hands into the matching making a bit. Those to are taking forever._ Hopefully soon. I know they both need to go at thier own pace and countine thier version of flirting. _Never thought Dorain would fall for a witch._

**“Are you fond of dogs?” asked the prince. She nodded. Why was it already so hot? “Am I going to be blessed with the pleasure of hearing your voice, or have you resolved to be silent for the duration of our journey?”**

**“I’m afraid your questions didn’t merit a verbal response.”**

"Burnnn." said Fenyrs. I smiled. Yerene seemed to be studying Fenyrs. Yerene has not really gotton the chance to get to know Fenyrs. Most likly worried about how he looks. His eyes still look broken and huanted. His face pale. Though he put up a good face. But we weren't tricked by it. We all pulled that face before. Trying to be brave in the face of our fears or pass memories.

**Dorian bowed low. “Then I apologize, my lady! How terrible it must be to condescend to answer! Next time, I’ll try to think of something more stimulating to say.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode away, his dogs trailing after him.**

**She scowled as she stood. Her frown deepened when she discovered the Captain of the Guard smirking as they walked into the fray of the readying company. However, the unbearable urge to splatter someone across a wall lessened when they brought her a piebald mare to ride.**

**She mounted. The sky came closer, and it stretched forever above her, away and away to distant lands she’d never heard of. Celaena gripped the saddle horn. She was truly leaving Endovier. All those hopeless months, those freezing nights . . . gone now. She breathed in deeply. She knew—she just knew—that if she tried hard enough, she could fly from her saddle. That is, until she felt iron clamp around her arms.**

"Anddd nope." I said. " I should just ran when I had a chance." Chaol snorted. "You whould have been shot. The moment you made a move escape, you wouldv'e been shot on the spot." I deflated a bit, grumbling how I couldv'e easy avoided the arrow. It was emtply though. We both knew at that time coundn't have avoided the arrow. 

**It was Chaol, fastening her bandaged wrists into shackles. A long chain led to his horse, where it disappeared beneath the saddlebags. He mounted his black stallion, and she considered leaping from her horse and using the chain to hang him from the nearest tree.**

Chaol sputtered a bit. I smirked. Rowan gave a small chukle. "You would hang someone with a chain, but stabbing a preson in the chest with a table leg is so how werid?" I smirked, we were questioning each other's abitly to kill someone with the items that they had at the time. I had brought up how killing someone with a table leg is not a way to kill someone.

"Toucy are we?" I said. "and yes, I can hang someone with chains bound to me, if long enough." After all, Arobynn had made sure. Pinning his assassions against kidnapped peopel, telling them, if they killed the assassion, he would let them go. Chainning was together. Then leaving, only coming back, when three days time was up. He wanted to be sure that we could kill someone and stay with the body without breaking down. Burtal but effective.

**It was a rather large company, twenty all together. Behind two imperial flag-bearing guards rode the prince and Duke Perrington. Then came a band of six royal guards, dull and bland as porridge. But still trained to protect him—from her. She clanked her chains against her saddle and flicked her eyes to Chaol. He didn’t react.**

**The sun rose higher. After one last inspection of their supplies, they left. With most of the slaves working the mines, and only a few toiling inside the ramshackle refining sheds, the giant yard was almost deserted. The wall suddenly loomed, and her blood throbbed in her veins. The last time she’d been this close to the wall . . .**

**The crack of the whip sounded, followed by a scream. Celaena looked over her shoulder, past the guards and the supplies wagon, to the near-empty yard. None of these slaves would ever leave here—even when they died. Each week, they dug new mass graves behind the refining sheds. And each week, those graves filled up.**

We all looked away from each other, Yerene, she didn't really to get to know how hard the world is. But she understood. She stiil knew. But had not really exprinced it. That is until, we meet at that piss-poor bar, and I gave her shove towards what she wanted. After that it was all her. She did get to know the world better. I will be forever grateful toward her. She is the light that this court needs.

Manon, she remaned unefficted.

**She became all too aware of the three long scars down her back. Even if she won her freedom . . . even if she lived in peace in the countryside . . . those scars would always remind her of what she’d endured. And that even if she was free, others were not.**

I frowed, I no longer had them. Thanks to Meave, that part of me is lost.

**Celaena faced forward, pushing those thoughts from her mind as they entered the passage through the wall. The interior was thick, almost smoky, and damp. The sounds of the horses echoed like rolling thunder. The iron gates opened, and she glimpsed the wicked name of the mine before it split in two and swung wide. Within a few heartbeats, the gates groaned shut behind them. She was out.**

**She shifted her hands in their shackles, watching the chains sway and clank between her and the Captain of the Guard. It was attached to his saddle, which was cinched around his horse, which, when they stopped, could be subtly unbridled, just enough so that with a fierce tug from her end, the chain would rip the saddle off the beast, he’d tumble to the ground, and she would—**

**She sensed Captain Westfall’s attention. He stared at her beneath lowered brows, his lips tightly pursed, and she shrugged as she dropped the chain.**

"Stopped dead." Adeion said. "You stopped her right when she was planning it. How did you do this?" I smirked. Adeion had trouble convincing me to not do foolsih things. Little deos he know, I do it on purpose. My way to show my thanks and family affection to him. 

**As the morning wore on, the sky became a crisp blue with hardly a cloud. Taking the forest road, they swiftly passed from the mountainous wasteland of Endovier and into fairer country.**

**By midmorning they were within Oakwald Forest, the wood that surrounded Endovier and served as a continental divide between the “civilized” countries of the East and the uncharted lands of the West. Legends were still told of the strange and deadly people who dwelt there—the cruel and bloodthirsty descendents of the fallen Witch Kingdom. Celaena had once met a young woman from that cursed land, and though she’d turned out to be both cruel and bloodthirsty, she was still just a human. And had still bled like one.**

"So a fake then." Monon said. No one said anything against her.

**After hours of silence, Celaena turned to Chaol. “Rumor has it that once the king is finished with his war against Wendlyn, he’ll begin colonizing the West.” She said it casually, but hoped he’d confirm or deny. The more she knew of the king’s current position and maneuverings, the better. The captain surveyed her up and down, frowned, and then looked away. “I agree,” she said, sighing loudly. “The fate of those empty, wide plains and those miserable mountain regions seems dull to me as well.”**

Choal and I then took it from there.

**His jaw tightened as he clamped his teeth.**

**“Do you intend to ignore me forever?”**

**Captain Westfall’s brows rose. “I didn’t know I was ignoring you.”**

**She pursed her lips, checking her irritation. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “How old are you?”**

**“Twenty-two.”**

**“So young!” She batted her eyelashes, watching him for some kind of response. “It only took a few years to climb the ranks?”**

**He nodded. “And how old are you?”**

**“Eighteen.” But he said nothing. “I know,” she continued. “It is impressive that I accomplished so much at such an early age.”**

**“Crime isn’t an accomplishment, Sardothien.”**

**“Yes, but becoming the world’s most famous assassin is!” He didn’t respond. “You might ask me how I did it.”**

**“Did what?” he said tightly.**

**“Became so talented and famous so quickly.”**

**“I don’t want to hear about it.”**

**Those weren’t the words she’d wanted to hear.**

**“You’re not very kind,” she said through her teeth. If she were going to get under his skin, she’d have to push a lot harder.**

We stopped there, letting Rowan countine.

**“You’re a criminal. I’m Captain of the Royal Guard. I’m not obligated to bestow any kindness or conversation upon you. Be grateful we don’t keep you locked up in the wagon.”**

**“Yes, well, I’d wager that you’re rather unpleasant to talk to even when you’re bestowing kindness upon others.” When he failed to respond again, Celaena couldn’t help but feel a bit foolish. A few minutes passed. “Are you and the Crown Prince close friends?”**

**“My personal life is none of your concern.”**

**She clicked her tongue. “How wellborn are you?”**

**“Well enough.” His chin lifted almost imperceptibly higher.**

**“Duke?”**

**“No.”**

**“Lord?” He didn’t reply, and she smiled slowly. “Lord Chaol Westfall.” She fanned herself with a hand. “How the court ladies must fawn over you!”**

**“Don’t call me that. I’m not given the title of lord,” he said quietly.**

**“You have an older brother?”**

**“No.”**

**“Then why don’t you bear the title?” Again, no response. She knew she should stop prying, but she couldn’t help it. “A scandal? A deprived birthright? In what sort of messy intrigue are you involved?”**

A few off use started laughing. Chaol was funny when he was annoyed.

**His lips squeezed together so tightly they turned white.**

**She leaned toward him. “Do you find that—”**

**“Shall I gag you, or are you capable of being silent without my assistance?” He stared ahead at the Crown Prince, his face blank again.**

**She tried not to laugh when he grimaced as she began speaking again. “Are you married?”**

**“No.”**

**She picked at her nails. “I’m not married, either.” His nostrils flared. “How old were you when you became Captain of the Guard?”**

**He gripped the reins of his horse. “Twenty.”**

**The party halted in a clearing and the soldiers dismounted. She faced Chaol, who swung a leg over his horse. “Why have we stopped?”**

**Chaol unhooked the chain from his saddle and gave it a firm yank, motioning for her to dismount. “Lunch,” he said.**

Rowan paged the book and it set it down. He looked only to find, Fenyrs, Adeion, Darion and I in a try not to laughh stand down. This lasted for all of ten seconds brfore Rowan brushed his hand against my ribs with enough pressure to make me laugh. "Rowan!" said. Falling into a fit of laughter. Fenyrs and Dorain following right after, Adeion held his own for five more seconds before he joinned in too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long wait. I hope you like the chapter!


End file.
